Continuing off his strong end to the 2018 season, Amed Rosario has come out of the gate swinging a hot bat for the Mets. Once the top prospect in baseball, Rosario is slashing .283/.353/.435 through 46 at-bats in his first 12 games. He has hit in all but two games he’s played in, and has drawn five walks in 51 plate appearances, exactly doubling his walk rate from last season.
Even with his fast start, Rosario could probably be playing even better. Statcast says that Rosario has an expected line of .313/.373/.497 in part due to his hard hit percentage being in the 98th percentile.
His hard hit rate of 58.6% ranks in the top 20 in the NL, and he has barreled 9.7% of his batted balls this year, up from 3.9% last season. Rosario’s exit velocity is up to 90.8 MPH on average for batted balls according to Statcast.
His sprint speed, which has always been elite, is in the 97th percentile. While his strikeout rate is up (29.4%), and his BABIP sits at .407. While that may seem unsustainable, he has posted a BABIP of .330 and .310 in his 2 previous seasons, showing that he is more than capable of sustaining a high BABIP over the course of a season.
Rosario’s plate discipline has increased, which is shown by the improvement in his O-Swing Rate (outside of the zone swing rate). He currently sits at 29.5%, which is down from 41.2% last season, and 45.5% the season before.
The improvements suggest that Rosario could be in for a big year, which would be key for playoff baseball in Queens in 2019.
